Brian Hoey
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
We're standing I suppose first of all in the town land of Cloughinna and we're in the parish of Drummanty under the shadow of Sleave Gullion here, the highest mountain in County Armagh and yeah that's where I'm based.
The Ring of Gullion, touristically known as South Armagh.
This is what I knew to be the home place although, so this is where my grandfather and grandmother lived.
These people lived organically when there was no such a word.
But I remember very well, for example, out in these outhouses here, and the gates would be open morning and night, and the cows would come in, and they'd be milked, and they were milked by hand.
to essentially, can you see up there on that hilltop?
So about 20 minutes will take us up there to the Bowley site, okay.
what essentially bullying is so during during the winter time people would typically live a bit lower down and they would gather their cattle to the not just cattle but mostly cattle sort of closer to the homestead come historically the first of may baltana was the time when those
herds of cattle or whatever else it was were moved not always higher up right we're going higher up today but that's not always the case it doesn't have to be on a mountain top sometimes you know you can in the midlands for example of ireland you'd have bogs and a lot of the time these bogs are totally inaccessible but in the middle of those bogs you would have had green pasture during the summer time so a bully can be there as well you know and then coming around november time they'll be gathered back down again
And we're just standing actually beside the Hawthorne Three here.
And I remember very well decorating this Hawthorne bush every May Eve with my uncle.
You know, it was Christianised because it was the Blessed Virgin's birthday.